In a two-way radio system, each radio typically communicates with one group of radios (talk group) at a time. For example, a firefighter may be affiliated with or using a firefighter talk group and a police officer may be affiliated with or using a police talk group. Radios can also use Selective Squelch to listen their talkgroup without hearing others. A conventional traffic channel may be limited to a particular number of talk groups. For example, an ASTRO25 communication system from Motorola Solutions, Inc. can employ up 20 talk groups on a single traffic channel (transmit frequency). Other talk groups (outside of those 20) will not be heard by other radios or consoles. This can become an issue if a radio is not programmed with the current talk groups utilized for a particular channel.
For example, consider a situation where a user wishes to contact a dispatch center on a channel using a radio that is not programmed with the latest talk groups for that channel. The user's transmissions will not be heard. It would be beneficial if the user's radio can be quickly assigned a talk group so that their transmissions can be heard. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for assigning a talk group to a radio within a communication system that alleviates the above-mentioned issue.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required.